Dr. Brian Goldman in the IMAGINE Project: The empathy gap and problems in healthcare

It’s a culture of defensiveness, a system that beats the empathy out of people, and simple lack of training, that destroys patient experience and leads to bad outcomes.
That was the message delivered by author, CBC personality and emergency room physician Dr. Brian Goldman to a packed crowd during the launch of the IMAGINE Project at the University of Calgary in January 22, 2015.
“I want to talk about… what I think is one of the common threads that makes it so difficult for us as healthcare providers to listen, and it has to do with that little problem of empathy,” said Goldman, keynote speaker at the IMAGINE Project launch.
The Project, a citizen-led, longitudinal initiative facilitated by the U of C’s O’Brien Institute for Public Health, aims to shift Alberta’s healthcare system from what they perceive is a focus on itself, to a focus on the patient. As the project attempts to highlight problems and successes within Alberta’s health system, and identify best practices to make the provincial system patient-centred, Goldman told those in attendance that if IMAGINE is to succeed, it will have to make empathy among healthcare providers a corner stone of a new healthcare culture.
“The root problem is a gap in empathy,” said Goldman.
“Empathy is your ability to put yourself in the place of the person with whom you’re sympathizing. You’re standing right beside the person in the pit saying, I know how tough it’s going to be to get out of this because I’ve been there … maybe I can help you.
“But… there’s a lot more of I’m sorry, I’m sorry for your loss, rather than this ability to put yourself in the place of your patients.”